Skipping On Glass
by StarUchiha
Summary: Sometimes being rational can be the biggest mistake of your life. Zap/Jenny slight Dex/Jane.
1. Scratches, Bite Marks, and Hickeys

_I have no idea how to start this other than… yes this is rated M, no it's not as explicit as I would like it to be, but I've unfortunately had to take into account FF's lack of MA rating. Even if many mainstream novels have full out sex scenes and violence coming out the wazoo that I was able to buy since I was 10 or younger and have been reading since because they are wonderful, realistic and hard-hitting works of literature. But, you know, rules are rules. But beyond that, I do have a dirtiness to my writing, so, I hope this doesn't break any rules because I'm proud of this and I love this show. It is truly hilarious with awesome plots, great sub plots, 3-dimensional characters and a great lack of obvious morals. When I was younger, I hated that little moral message at the end, because yeah, I'm going to listen to an animated character tell me why not to play with fire. I'd rather just watch an actual story line if you mind. And this show delivered and it's wonderful._

_I've only seen a limited amount of the episodes and I'm still trying to catch up. It only plays once a week in Canada, and the internet, for some reason, is no help when it comes to finding these episodes in decent enough quality. So, basically, if there are any iaaccuracies, please don't hold them against me and do inform me. Thank you._

**Skipping On Glass**

**Chapter 1: Scratches, Bite Marks, and Hickeys **

Jenny had never been so grateful for the Habitat's thick walls.

His face was screwed up in concentration above her. Muffled groans and laboured breathing decorated the musty air around them. His name on her lips encouraged him further and his pace quickened as he slammed their cores together. Her nails dug into his back, clinging to him as he worked. He buried his face into the crease of her throat and gently bit down. She cried out, turning her head to face him and kissing him hard on the mouth.

He pushed into her again, and her body broke out with tremors. She curled up into him, a deep moan emitting from the back of her throat. She screamed his name with a hoarse breathy tone and her body shuddered roughly as a white wave of pleasure washed through her. His final thrusts were erratic and sparse. He bit down on his lip, and his hands curled into the sheets beneath him as he pushed her deeper into the mattress. He climaxed moments later, wings twitching violently, his back craned in and a stifled groan left his mouth slowly. He collapsed on her, panting heavily and feeling her chest heaving under his.

He moved off of her into the empty space in the bed. She beamed at him, laughing a little, too tired to move and cover herself, even if she was utterly uncomfortable with being exposed. He smiled back with a goofily happy grin. They both looked ridiculously dishevelled. Hair was askew and they were both covered from head to toe in scratches, bite marks, and hickeys - her especially. He loved to use his mouth whenever possible, and that big mouth of his certainly paid off when it came down to it. He reached up and brushed the damp hair off her face. She looked down at herself for a moment, obviously mortified by his stares. The cold breeze from the open window across her room had become noticeable as well. She gathered the little energy she had left to pull the comforter up from where it had been kicked nearly off the bed. He pushed himself up enough to stop her and pull her back into his torso. She squeaked a little as she was dragged across the sheets and she speedily lost her grip on the covers.

"Zap," she gasped as his arms wrapped around her waist and firmly held her against him. She tried to wiggle out of his grasp, but his arms were too strong and she quickly gave in.

"It's not like I haven't seen you before," he told her, nuzzling his face into her shoulder and pressing small kisses up to the nape of her neck, "or kissed you everywhere, touched you…tasted you-"

"I get it," she butt in, her face a stunning scarlet and her voice dripping with her embarrassment. She twisted in his arms to face him. Her green eyes looked up at him for a moment before she settled in on his chest. He grinned at her, resting his chin on the top of her head. His eyes closed and he could almost see sleep on the horizon. The room went silent around them; all to be heard was the other's heavy breathing and slowly dissipating pants.

"What time is it," Jenny mumbled, her breath tickling his throat.

He groaned, turning over to look at the digital clock on the nightstand beside him, "nearly ten."

"Crap," she shrieked, causing Zap to jump and lose his hold on her. Jenny practically bolted off the bed and, as soon as her feet hit the floor, was collecting his clothes and throwing them at him. He caught them with ease from where he was sitting and watched her with a strange mix of confusion and amusement.

"Dex is going to be here any minute," she continued with worry, "You know how he is before a mission. He _has_ to make sure we're all getting a good nights rest so we're at our best and – what are you staring at?"

"You," he said bluntly, chuckling at her when her cheeks flushed red, "You're naked."

She rolled her eyes and whipped his boxers at him. He laughed again, "What's the problem?"

"What's going to happen when he starts his bed check and he finds you're not in your room," she pondered sourly, "or when he finds you in mine like…this."

"Point taken."

He clambered to pull his boxers and pants on. Jenny rushed into her bathroom, exiting hurriedly and fumbling to throw on her bathrobe. Zap frowned a little at her now clothed state as he did up his belt. She poked her head out her front door and yelped briefly. She turned to him, wide-eyed, "He just went into Tung's room. You've got to go now!"

Zap nodded and collected the rest of his clothes in his arms and jogged over to her. She opened the door for him, quickly looking into the hall to make sure Dex was still dealing with Tung. It was certainly a lucky thing that the frog-boy always put up a fight when it came to the bed checks. She wasn't such a fan of them either; it made her feel like she was a troublesome six year old under watch. And they certainly made her nights with Zap a little harder to keep under wraps. She reached behind her and caught hold of the back of Zap's bicep. He took the hint and rushed out into the hallway. He stopped and faced her in the door frame. Swiftly, he leaned in and kissed her roughly with an open mouth. Her knees went weak, and her sense of urgency disappeared for a moment. She parted her lips for him and he smiled against her as he took his time to ravage her mouth.

He pulled back, "I can always come back."

She nodded just to shut him up and pulled him down to her. She wasted no time, delicately invading his mouth for a moment before he easily overtook her. An outcry from Tung in the room down the hall brought her to her senses. Her heart jumped in her chest and she pushed him out further into the hall, closing the door as silently as she could after he was out of the way. She pressed her ear up against the door, listening intently when she heard Dex's voice. She bit down on her lip and, with great care, reopened the door just enough as so she could get a decent view.

"Zap," Dex greeted, "We've got a big mission tomorrow and you know the rules."

"I was just on my way to bed," Zap shrugged.

Dex cocked an eyebrow at him, "And you're not wearing a shirt because?"

"I was just… in the shower."

"It's not all guys around here," he said bluntly, "You can't go prancing around half naked."

"I was not _prancing_," he spat and Dex chuckled a little at his glare.

"Just get to bed, alright? Wait… where'd you get those bruises?"

Jenny covered her mouth to conceal her gasp as her eyes caught hold of a group of rather large hickeys up Zap's throat. He reached to cover them quickly, hoping Dex would be none the wiser if he couldn't get a good look at them. Dex looked confusingly at him, and Zap could only shrug sheepishly while he raked his mind for a decent excuse.

"They're uh… from," he stammered, "From yesterday, I guess! I got body slammed by the Kisar Jumping Fly while feeding it."

"In the neck," he asked with disbelief, "well that doesn't make much sense. The Kisar Jumping Fly is such a submissive creature; it wouldn't attack you without a reason. Maybe there's something off in the food."

"You should probably go check on that, and I should probably get to bed…"

"Yeah, yeah," he mumbled in a daze. His obsession with bugs buying Zap enough time to run off before he thought of anymore questions and contradictions. Jenny sighed to herself, but her relief was short lived when she saw Dex turn to her room. She rushed around, kicking her clothes into hiding spaces around her bed. She knew she was a little more organized than the rest of her team, and anything out of place would be suspicious. Her ears picked up on the sound of the knob of her door turning and she flung herself into her bed and lugged the comforter over her.

Dex opened the door, took a few moments to make sure she was indeed in her bed, and left without a single word. Jenny sat up, stared at the door briefly, and smiled with satisfaction. They had evaded another night. She sighed audibly to herself. It wasn't as if she didn't want Dex, or Tung for that matter, to know, but she was quite aware about how dating someone you work with could be seen as hazardous to both your job and relationship. Thus, she figured her and Zap would see if they could even manage both and not have either breakdown around them. However, she never thought she'd ever find herself in the middle of something so dramatic.

When Dex had found her and she ended up with a job at the Habitat, it became her life's focus to work. Truthfully, it was what she was created to do – focus and work. It all came naturally. Then he came, and at first, he was just a pain. She couldn't pin point what it was, his sarcasm, his temper, maybe it was the way he'd stare at her and she felt like a freak under his eyes.

The switch was truly instantaneous. She merely woke up one morning, and went to work per usual. Then, by a complete fluke, neither she nor he were paying attention to what obstacles may be in their way while walking through one of the main corridors in the Habitat. Jenny had her face buried in new blue prints she had drawn up the previous night. Zap had been distracted trying to balance several heavy bags of feed for the arachnids on his shoulders. The two slammed into each, papers flew everywhere, and food hit the floor with a thud. He immediately got to his feet and offered her his hand. She looked up at him, expecting the same slight annoyed feeling to bubble up in her gut, but was thrown into turmoil when it never came. Instead, his eyes caught hers and almost bore into them. Her stomach flared up with a warm tingling and if felt like someone had punched her in the gut. She felt her body disobey her when her undergarments suddenly became very slick and while, at first, she was sure she'd just gotten her period at an extremely awkward time again, she was proven wrong after a rushed trip to the bathroom.

But, as was easily apparent, she was a more than super intelligent being, and found while thinking things through was a good thing, over thinking them often left her more confused. And confused by her new found feelings, she did everything she could to ignore and suppress them until she could make better sense of them. So Jenny did the one thing she knew she could depend on – she worked. She worked and worked and refused to let her mind wander. She was built for focus, but since that day it had become so much harder than it used to be. Every time he smiled or looked her way, which she had come to realize he did an awful lot, she would force herself to ignore him and bury herself deeper and deeper in work.

Of course, procrastination was never a smart move on anyone's part and he eventually cornered her a good two years after the whole fiasco had started. Convinced she thought nothing else of him but a good friend, he poured his heart out to her in hopes of moving on. Instead, before he could even finish his rant about her, she had broken. Jenny had jumped him, throwing herself into him and pressing her lips against his like it was the last thing she'd ever do. She didn't feel him move or kiss her back. She frowned to herself, and for a while she was sure she had missed her chance.

When she pulled back, he was staring at her in shock, "what was that for?"

She smiled sheepishly, "I wanted to. I've kind of wanted to do that for a long time."

"But, you never said anything…"

"You didn't either."

"I always thought I was obvious," he said, "and that you were just ignoring me. I mean, even Tung and Dex figured out that I liked you, and I had said all those stupid things when that plant let out that truth gas."

"You're partially right," she admitted sadly, "but I really didn't think you _liked_ me."

"You didn't?"

"No. I didn't," she looked up at him, "So, what now?"

He grinned. Zap took her by the waist, and dipped her down as if they were in some sort of old romance film. He kissed her passionately, either one of them refusing to stop unless for air. The tingling in her gut expanded when he held her, even going so far as to tickle her cheeks. He dragged sounds out of her that she wasn't even sure she had the capacity to possess before – so primal and unstoppable. When they finally stopped, she looked up at him and the red across his cheeks, "isn't this a little cheesy?"

"Well, yeah, but I've kind of always wanted to do that…"

The sound of her door opening and closing brought Jenny back to reality. She instinctively went to fix her hair, brushing it down with her fingers. Zap stood at her door, his clothes still in his arms, smiling amused as he watched her try to tame her blue locks.

"I was just thinking about you," she told him softly, smiling as he dropped his extra clothes to the floor and started towards her.

"I hope I was naked," he mused, and she snorted with hilarity.

"Something like that, but that can certainly be arranged."


	2. Jane

_Finally back from work! And happy to be. I'm just glad to post these instead of sitting on them at the cottage. Enjoy._

**Skipping On Glass**

**Chapter 2: Jane**

Jenny was jolted awake when the alarm on her wrist com went off. It was early morning missions that she really wondered why she had installed such a blaringly obnoxious ring. At 5:30 in the morning, no one wanted 8-bit elevator music blasting at full volume. She groggily moved to get out of bed, the alarm repeating and getting seemingly louder as it did, but quickly realized leaving her bed was going to be more of a feat than first anticipated. Behind her, Zap had come to wrap his arms around her tightly during the night. She sighed miserably. He slept like he went through mini hibernations each night. She supposed it was to be expected with his enhanced genetics; he would need more substantial sleep to reverberate his strength on a daily basis, but it did make some mornings a little harder than normal. Mornings where she realized he had decided to use her as a pillow instead of the actual one inches from his head.

As the alarm continued to attack her inner ear, she tried to detangle herself from his grasp. When she finally managed to pry a hand off of her torso, her sense of accomplishment was not long lived. When she tried once again to leave her bed, the arm she had just removed from herself flew back to her and ensnared her even tighter against him. She huffed, and tapped her fingers on his forearm impatiently.

"Zap," she moaned forebodingly, restlessly trying to kick him in the leg with her foot, "Zap!"

He snorted in his sleep, and she could barley hear him mumbling something over the alarm. His face nuzzled deeper into her hair, which she was sure was probably more of a nest at the moment. She could already feel the knots that had formed at her scalp thanks to their activities from the night before. He, however, seemed very content with shoving his face into her mass of hair and continuing to sleep through the ever annoying music booming from somewhere in her room and exposing her to such perils without a single thought. At this point, she was sure she would resort to clawing out her ear drums if she had to endure that stupid alarm for another minute.

"Juh," he muttered into her ear sleepily, "Juh…"

"That better be my name you're saying," she spat beyond irritated.

He managed to hold her tighter and the next word from his mouth left her with an awful taste in her mouth, "Juh… hmm – Jane…"

"JANE," she shrieked, her stomach bubbling up as her rage pushed her out from his tight grasp. Her sudden movements were finally enough to wake him. As he pushed himself up, wincing as he finally became aware of the cheesy alarm blasting, he faced Jenny as she sped around her room, picking up clothes and quickly getting dressed. The slight scowl on her face went unnoticed as he watched. Amused, he settled down as she hustled around the room, her mass of blue hair with its nasty case of bed head bopping up and down as she went, and she soon turned to the task of tracking down her communicator. She was at the point where she found she was seriously considering dragging Tung in to find it.

"Were you kicking me while I was asleep," he piped up groggily.

She barley turned to acknowledge him and mumbled, "Hmm, maybe…"

"Because I had the weirdest dream," he continued while she, growing exceedingly frustrated, had gotten on her hands and knees to look under her furniture for that damned wrist com. He started to get dressed with a content smirk on his face as she crawled around groaning with annoyance, "You and Tung were having a tea party, and you were in the most ridiculous dress. I think Tung had actually managed to trick you into eating chocolate covered flies or something. Then Sam came out of no where-"

"Sam," she had tried to keep her voice calm but instead it came out like a hiss.

"Yeah, and he just started jumping on me like some kind of deranged dog. I tried to call out for help, but no one was listening. Jane and Dex were too busy making out on this lawn chair floating above the ground. Oh and there was this lawn gnome thing that-"

"You were calling for help?"

"Uh yeah… I couldn't get Sam off of me and Jane wasn't playing attention. Okay, so this lawn gnome-"

She cut him off when she walked back over to her bed and kissed him hard on the mouth. She pulled back with a small smile and a good pang of guilt in her gut, and continued to get dressed without another word. He sat dazed for a moment, but left it be. He wasn't about to question her when she felt affectionate for no real apparent reason. She usually wasn't the warmest person, even when they were alone, and for a long time she had found affection an awkward change from the social norm between the two of them – not that she was not happy with it, she had grown to quite love his kisses and his ridiculous need to constant bodily contact when they could. Of course, this never stopped their bickering outside of the bedroom, or inside for that matter. He just made it too easy, and she was never one to pass up such an opportunity – no matter how childish her wit arose as.

"Speaking of Jane," she said absentmindedly as she attempted to drag a hairbrush through her nested hair, "I think she's our mission today."

"You serious?"

"Yeah, she's been sending us messages more frequently recently. She needs to have some of her equipment replaced and Dex has been promising her we'd do it," her fight with her hair had quickly down-spiralled into an all out war when her hairbrush got stuck in her mass of blue locks by her ear. She groaned frustratingly, and began picking apart her hair, strand by ever painfully strand, to retrieve her brush from its snare. He briefly watched her, smiling amusingly to himself at her feat.

"That would explain why Dex has been so stoked for this mission," he added, "He's had me and Tung go over the ships' engine twice."

"That doesn't seem so bad…"

"It went in for its regular maintenance last week and came back with a clean bill of health," he muttered spitefully. She smiled apologetically at him and went back to prying her brush from her hair. He grinned back, "He probably just wants a reason to see her again."

She laughed, "You think?"

"Yeah."

"That was a rhetorical question."

"A rhino- what?"

"Never mind…"

/

"Easy on the steering Zap, we have some pretty delicate equipment on board."

Zap rolled his eyes and re adjusted his grip on the wheel, "Yeah, I got that the last five times you told me."

"I know, I know," Dex admitted apologetically, "I'm just reminding you."

"Okay, well, stop."

He held his tongue and left Zap be. Although he wouldn't admit it, everyone (even Tung) could see how wrought with anticipation he was. Usually, a simple delivery or scouting mission would have him excited to the point of jumping off the walls. It was in his nature. However, as Jenny had predicted, today was not a simple delivery or scouting mission. No, today was a simple delivery for Jane, and it was very plain to see just how much that extra little tid-bit had thrown him for a loop.

He had the works. The jitters, the clammy hands, his heart rate was through the roof. Apparently the pheromones he was secreting were also intensive enough to force Tung to leave the room. Zap had already made a good wise crack about that one, much to Dex's dismay and utter denial.

The worst was yet to come. As Jane's planet went from a small yellow dot in space closer and closer until it feasibly became a planet – Dex lost it. He did his best to hide it, but he was never a very good liar. His chest tightened, and his stomach ballooned and he could feel it in his throat. To put it plainly, he was nervous – and Dex was never nervous.

He took a breath in to calm himself. This was ridiculous. He was getting worked up over a girl, one who was only his friend as he kept insisting, and the mission would barely last a few hours. They would get in, drop off the supplies, share some casual talk, pack up, and go home. Simple, quick, nothing special.

Then why did it feel like this innards were about to explode?

"Dex, seriously, calm down," Zap grumbled, "Your pacing is giving me a headache."

"You're right. There is nothing to worry about. The engine is fine, the cargo is buckled in, there are no pirates or intergalactic anti-green movements in this region," he spoke almost to himself in a desperate attempt to calm his frazzled nerves, "It's only Jane. It's not as if she bites."

"Not hard, anyway…"

Dex shot him a look, and Zap chuckled hoarsely. The door to the bridge opened, and Tung walked in. Zap nearly threw out a rib with how much he laughed. Tung waved him off. He was, as he always tried to be, dressed for success. Which, to Tung, meant wearing a large clothespin on his nose to combatant the putrid pheromones Dex was supposedly producing. Dex looked at him exasperatingly.

"What," he asked. His nasally voice was even higher pitched and slurred as he spoke, "You smell worse than Zap when Jenny enters a room."

"Hey," Zap protested, accidentally jerking the wheel as he cheeks flushed red with blood-blush.

"Zap, careful on the wheel," Dex pleaded before turning back to Tung, "Isn't this overreacting? I mean – worse than Zap?"

"I heard that!"

"Sorry! But really, I don't like Jane that way. We're colleagues, good friends!"

"Yeah, and Zap didn't eat the last of the cake last night," Tung sassed, and Dex was left with his mouth agape.

"When did I get pulled into this," Zap asked frustrated. Dex turned to Zap and shot him another look to calm him down. It didn't, but Zap obediently turned back to the wheel and put all his focus into driving and not the slander exiting the frog boys' mouth.

"I know it was you! I could smell it all over your breath!"

Jenny walked in just as the room exploded into a chaotic muddle of yelling and cursed. She stood dazed watching the men bicker like angry children at each other. Even Dex wasn't getting a grip on himself – Jane must really have had him worked up. Zap and Tung on the other hand, it was nothing new. Although, from the string of colourful language leaving Tung's mouth, some things were. She attempted to wait out their fit a little longer, but her headache from the morning still hadn't fully left and their screaming wasn't helping. She really needed to change that alarm tone.

She rolled her eyes and waited impatiently for a small lull in the fight. Just enough so that she could get her own voice in, loud and clear, "Girls! Girls!"

Their voices calmed and they all looked to her confused and a little embarrassed.

"You're all pretty," she finished sharply. Their cheeks flushed red and she nodded to herself contently. Nothing like insulting their manhood's to get them to shut up. She could always count on the classics. She grabbed the clipboard tucked under her arm and pushed it into Dex's hands, "Here. The tests all came back normal like I said they would."

He shrugged sheepishly, "I just wanted to be sure."

"No," Jenny corrected, "You wanted a distraction. She likes you too Dex, you need to calm down and enjoy yourself instead of driving us all nuts with useless tests because you don't want to admit you want her."

Dex's face turned an even deeper scarlet, and he graciously ignored most of Jenny's words and thanked her anyways. She smiled at him, taking his thanks and retreating back to her lab. Once gone, Zap burst out laughing. Dex sighed and came up behind him to check the radar. They were close, really close. He pulled on his collar and grunted – did Tung turn the heat up to sleep again? He didn't remember the ship being this hot before.

The ship barley vibrated as it entered through the atmosphere of the planet; still it threw Dex off guard. What if something went wrong? Did they just break the equipment? He swallowed the lump in his throat. When did it even appear in the first place?

"Take us down steady, Zap," he instructed strongly. Zap didn't bother to remind him he knew what he was doing, but continued to lower the ship.

His heart leapt when her camp came into view, but sunk just as quickly. Zap cussed under his breath and all three of them remained glued to the scene outside the windshield. He parked the ship as efficiently as possible, quick to open the latch and bolt out after Dex who had run without a word.

Her camp had been trashed. Every window was shattered, and you couldn't take a step without hearing glass crackling under your shoes. Her station and home was in shambles. The roof looked as if it had been blown off and a long plume of smoke still emitted off its top. The fire, however, was long gone. Her equipment was trailed around the area, broken and crushed.

Dex stood in the epicentre of the disaster. His mouth was dry and he had lost all coherent thought on what to do. It was in situations like this he shone; he always knew what to do. But now, he was stuck. Her world was gone. And she was no where to be found.

"Jane," he croaked out. There was no answer. He called for her again, louder and more desperate, "Jane! Jane, can you hear me!? Jane! Answer me! _JANE_!"


	3. Going, Going, Gone

**Skipping On Glass**

**Chapter 3: Going, Going, Gone**

Dex watched impatiently as Jenny took readings of Jane's destroyed home. He didn't recall her tools being so slow before. He was trying his best to be civil with her, but he was having a hard time controlling himself and had turned into an emotional wreck. She watched him from the corner of her eye as she scanned Jane's main station. He had slid his hands through his hair so many times it was starting to stay up. She frowned, the back of her throat swollen and aching. She couldn't imagine how Dex felt. She loved Jane too, but the pain behind Dex's eyes had become unbearable to look at. She bit her cheek. She wished she hadn't chewed him out earlier. If only they had known. If only they could have stopped it. She shook her head, as if the motion would actually force the thoughts to stop. She couldn't change the past. Time travel, while plausible and completely within her grasp if she so chose was tricky and possibly more dangerous – she had already learned her lesson there. All she could do was finish her tests and figure out what happened before it was too late. Assuming, it already wasn't too late. That last thought was almost enough to throw her into tears, but if Dex was managing not to cry, she had to as well. For his sake.

"I spoke to her this morning," he mumbled. She jumped as his voice. She hadn't noticed him come up behind her, "I don't understand. How could this have happened so fast?"

She fought to hold her own tears down and turned to him. She couldn't answer him, but she could give him hope, if only for a moment. She just hoped it would be enough to relight that spark of his and get him fired up enough to take on whatever might be lurking, "Are Zap and Tung back?"

"No. They're still scouting."

He looked out at the forest surrounding them, as if he hoped to see her stumble out. Jenny looked at his pathetic mug, and wished she could slap some sense into him. She smiled to him bravely and said, "That's good. They could still find her."

He nodded, but it was half-hearted. Jenny turned back to the scanner in her hands, eyes lighting up for the briefest moment when the computer beeped. It was done. The sound collided with Dex's ear, and he perked up into fight mode, peering over her shoulder for the screen. The sudden determination in his face and body shocked her. She was scared to know what exactly it would lead to.

"Hornets," she hissed, her eyes grazing over the report – she hated hornets, "Pyro Hornets."

He pinched the bridge of his nose in frustration, "I should have known. That completely explains the explosions in her home and the rapid destruction."

"What's so special about them?"

"They have a nasty habit of making natural bombs," he was quick to answer. She smiled softly as his love of bugs lifted his mood the slightest, "They have a pouch in their throats which produces balls of methane and excrement. It's usually a defensive. They plant these balls around their nests and if a predator comes for its young they light them with a electric pulse from two conducting rods in its mouth. I've only heard stories of Pyro Hornets using them as an offensive, but when they do… this happens."

"Are they lethal," she blurted, and she immediately went to cover her mouth after. She wished she had held her tongue. She was often too curious. It came with her mind. Many things she just needed to know; the pursuit of knowledge. It was often a lonely road.

"More often than not," he answered dourly.

Above them, Zap had returned, Tung trailing at his heels. She pursed her lips; there was something wrong with his jet pack. He was riding more to the right than he should. The balance was off. She'd need to check that out. They landed, Zap near silent and Tung with a thump. She'd need to look at the breaks too.

"Well," Dex asked hurriedly and fraught with worry. Tung's eyes shifted to the ground and Jenny had to bite her inner cheek to keep from sobbing.

"She's not here," Zap explained, heaving his shoulders upset, "Or Sam, or the rest of the crickets. They're all just gone."

"They have to be here, somewhere," Dex's hands shook where he held his belt, "If they were dead the hornets would have left the bodies where they dropped!"

A painful silence overtook the group of them. She wasn't dead. She couldn't have been. She was more likely wounded and hiding and Sam and the others had followed her out of love. Still, Dex's words stung. Even if the hornets hadn't killed her themselves, she could be dead. These thoughts were in all there minds though they didn't speak them. Tung, even managed to control his gob and keep it shut.

Dex continued, "This just doesn't make any sense. What would Pyro Hornets be doing on this planet anyways? They're native to the planet Lavaria on the other side of the galaxy."

Jenny's mouth twisted as she pondered out loud, "Why would a submissive species from another galaxy be on this planet and attacking?"

Dex's face dropped and his brows furrowed, "Syrrus."

"What would Syrrus want with Jane," Zap asked, arms crossed tightly over his chest.

Jenny shook her head, "We can't assume anything. There's a good chance she's hiding. We need to exhaust all our options."

"Jenny's right," Dex agreed, but she felt like he was angry at her by the way he spoke. It wasn't pleasant. It was not often she disliked being right, "We should split up and search the perimeter by foot. If you find anything, anything at all, call it in. Tung, you're with me, we'll go west. Jenny, Zap, you take the east. We'll regroup here before the sun goes down."

They split immediately. Tung had taken off like wildfire, searching for scents wafting through the air. Dex followed at his heels. Jenny and Zap watched them go before they entered the forest to the east. They walked in silence for a while. The only sounds were the ones from Jenny's scanner and the crunching of dried sticks under their feet. Even the forest was as quiet as death itself. There was no breeze, and no animals moved through the flora and fauna. It didn't scare them, but both felt uneasy about the lack of life. The trees even seemed browner and looked like they could collapse at any moment. Neither one of them was comfortable, but neither let it show.

"Anything showing on that uh… computer thing," Zap asked. His outside was calm, but she knew him well enough to see the concern storming behind his blue eyes.

"It's a heat signature tracker," she responded automatically. His face screwed up in confusion and she recalled her words, "It looks for warm bodies in the immediate area and with some aid from our satellite back home, it's placed on the map on the screen. And no, there's nothing. Actually, it's like the areas' completely vacated of life."

He nodded to himself, "Do you… you know?"

"She's not dead," Jenny insisted, "She couldn't be. It's Jane. She can take care of herself."

"I hope your right."

"I know I'm right," she mumbled automatically. She smiled at him, and he smiled back, before they continued to walk.

/

Even though the fire was going strong, crackling and smoking with all its might, it was still cold. Dex had dug Jane's pots out from her house, which they had come back to find completely collapsed. He insisted on using them and cooking like she would have. He thought the familiar location and smells might attract her crickets and her; let them know the danger was gone. Zap had already mentioned, quite snidely, that it might also attract the hornets if they were still around, and that if they were in the ship they'd be safer and a whole lot warmer. Dex flat out ignored him as he stirred a pot of beans over the flames. Tung was by his side, instructing him step by step on how to improve his stirring, but was ignored as well.

Jenny didn't mind the cold so much. It was brisk, but it wasn't nearly cold enough to bring about hypothermia, which was really all that mattered. She watched as Zap opened his mouth to complain again and she smacked him in the arm. She knew it didn't hurt him, even though her knuckles definitely stung from the impact.

"Hey," he hissed.

She glowered at him, "Don't be such a baby."

"I'm not being a baby. I just don't want to be around if those hornets come back for seconds," he replied. She rolled her eyes and decided not to unleash the strong words coming up her throat. Instead, she flicked his temple and then went back to looking at the insides of Tung's backpack. Her eyes narrowed, there was something stuck in the balancing pump. She cautiously reached in and grabbed the blockade, wincing when a putrid odour poured out from between the pumps. Finally getting a grasp on whatever was stinking and ruining her machine; she pulled it out and threw it to the ground. She closed her eyes and anger and disbelief when she realized she had just pulled a mouldy sandwich which had partially turned to sludge.

"Tung," she asked him tiredly, "What the hell?"

"What if I got hungry while flying," he insisted sadly.

She sighed, "I'll add a section for your snacks, but no more food in the engine."

"Got it, dude," he held up his hand with a thumb up and a goofy smile, "but then, where will I keep my socks? There's a spot in there which keeps them so warm."

Jenny's hands shot back into the pack, immediately searching the areas around the breaks. She sneered as she fished out several old pair of socks. She tossed them at him and left it at that. She really wasn't in the mood for Tung's ridiculous obsessions.

"Dinner's ready," Dex announced, spooning mounds of beans into bowls and passing them around. Zap's nose wrinkled at the sight. There was something off about them. His stomach growled and he regretfully shoved a heaping spoonful into his gob. His went down hard, leaving a nauseating taste on his tongue in its wake. He looked at everyone else who seemed to have come to the same conclusion that the beans were disgusting. All expect, of course, Tung who tasted nothing wrong with the dinner and was vacuuming his bowl clean with his mouth. Zap managed to swallow a few more bites, if only to appease his still groaning gut, before he gave up on his bowl. Jenny had already passed hers over to Tung who had finished his with ease.

"So," Zap clapped his hands together to break the silence and all eyes fell to Dex, "What now?"

"We have to find her," Dex said sternly while he poked at his beans, "She needs our help whether she'd want it or not."

"What I don't get is why Syrrus would come and kidnap Jane," Zap says with spite and a confused scorned frown, "He's a bug guy, not a kidnap a girl and lock her up kind of guy."

"She probably had something he wanted," Jenny added, "And Sam and the others are missing too. If Syrrus wanted them, then he'd have to take Jane. She wouldn't give him the choice."

Tung slurped up the rest of Jenny's bowl and spoke up, "How do we even know its Syrrus?"

"Of course it's Syrrus," Zap snapped, "It's the only thing that makes sense."

"These are words I thought I'd never say, but I agree with Tung," Jenny admitted softly. It almost pained her as the words left her mouth.

"What? Why?"

"We can't be sure it's Syrrus. We didn't see him take her or Sam and the others," she tried to explain clearly but Dex's brows were furrowed as he stared down at his bowl of untouched food. Her chest tightened with sympathy at the sight. But it all needed to be said, "We searched the perimeter but there's no reason she can't already be at the other side of the planet with every one of her beetles hiding from the hornets. They could be an invasive species. We can't just assume it's him because a few things that point towards him. There are as many facts that say otherwise."

"We'll do another search tomorrow," Dex said sternly, but a clear aggravated frown was still on his face, "after that we'll determine the best course of action."

They all fell into silence. At least it was a plan, not much of one, but it was rational so far. Dex's eyes shifted to the woods surrounding them. His legs tingled to get up and go. He hated doing nothing – however momentarily. But he forced himself to stay put. Running around in the dark wasn't going to help anyone, least of all Jane.

Zap rose from the ground and dusted off his pants, "I'm off."

He was right. It was late and they had a long day ahead of them. They should probably all get to sleep. She got up as well and followed him into the ship. Tung, also, was stead fast at their heels. Dex was the only one who refused to budge. He promised he'd be in soon, but Jenny doubted it. Still, they left him be. He knew what he was doing. He always did.


	4. The Shadowed Man

Sorry about the long time between updates. Between the last update and now, I've had homework, university prep, and a second concussion in one year…

And to the "Guest" reviewer who reviewed on Fanfic's "January" to me: I wish I could update all the time, I really do. But like I said up there, I'm busy and it's hard, and I spend a lot of time on my work because I choose quality over quantity. I don't update until I'm satisfied and I have been known to scrap entire chapters and re-write them if I'm not happy. I review because it takes two seconds and it helps other authors and shows my support. So I hope that clears things up and next time you want to contact me, please do so on my own work and not someone else's (or get an account so we can PM). It's not fair to them.

Skipping On Glass

Chapter 4: The Shadowed Man

It was the kind of dawn that made Jenny wish she hadn't slept in her own room. Zap was a distraction. Often it wasn't welcomed, those blue eyes burned through her, and she couldn't fathom how she was supposed to get any work done when he kept sneaking in to her lab to check on her. His boredom was her downfall. And his mouth was her breaking point. The countless times he had sauntered in while her attention was directed at her workbench and taken every once of self control she had and ripped it out of her flooded her mind. She couldn't pinpoint exactly when he had gotten so cocky that he thought they could get away with fooling around during work hours. Worse, she could never say no.

But maybe there was something to it – and she hated to admit it. They hadn't gotten caught, _yet_ she insisted, but the word quickly faded from sight. They had come close too many times. That should have been evidence enough. But he knew all the right buttons to press, and she caved every time.

When did that happen? Usually she held all the cards, and it was him that squirmed under her reach. He knew how to approach her, especially when she was working with tools that could take his head off like butter. He knew where to put his hands, and his lips. He knew exactly how to take her down. She frowned, he was so damn captivating, and she hated it. When he had come to realize how much power he truly held over her, she could never figure out. One moment, she's pulverising him with snappy comments, and then next he had her shimmed up the nearest wall with her pants down.

This morning, she woke with a heavy stomach and her yearning for his distractions was understandable. The fleeting moment of oblivious bliss from waking was gone all too soon and replaced with the stress of the world weighing on her gut. She forced herself out from the haven of her covers. She went through her routine in auto pilot. Shower, brush teeth, wash face, brush hair, get dressed… None of it seemed to matter, and none of it went by fast enough. She had beaten her alarm clock to the punch, but she had no doubt that Dex was already awake, waiting. She wondered briefly if he would have bothered to go the sleep at all.

She opened her door, only to come face to face with Zap. He looked tired, and untidy. His fist was up in the air as if he were about to knock. She cocked an eyebrow at him, her head tilting naturally. His hand dropped and he stuffed them both in his pockets.

"Hello," she greeted curiously, "I didn't know you knew that there was a five in the morning to get up for."

He snorted, "Dex was pacing his room all night. I didn't sleep a wink."

"Why didn't you come and sleep with me," she asked him. The innuendo that left her mouth went completely unnoticed by her ears. However, it didn't by his. His cheeks flushed a deep red and she smiled gently. He was certainly a very welcome distraction today.

"Where's Dex now," she continued.

He shrugged, "I think he's in the kitchen. Either that or he's wandering the Habitat staring at his babies."

"I've never seen him like this," she admitted, "We've all been kidnapped and swallowed by bugs and nearly killed on several occasions, but he's never reacted anywhere near this before."

"He's in love with her."

Jenny's eyes drifted to the floor for a second and her stomach twisted uncomfortably, "We have to find her today."

"I still don't get why Syrrus would take her," he mumbled, walking into her room and slouching onto her desk chair. She turned to face him, lips pouted in thought. She stopped herself from swatting his hands when he began to fidget with her pencils.

She huffed openly, "We can't be sure it is Syrrus."

"Why do you keep saying that," he asked her hotly. She shifted on the spot before approaching him. This time she didn't hold back and slapped his hands away from her stuff. His arms crossed over his chest in rebuttal.

"Because," she snapped, glaring down at him. Distracting and infuriating as he always was, "I don't want us to go rushing off to pick fights when, one, it may not be necessary and, two, it could be more disastrous than anything. We could be doing more harm than good if we just run around assuming things!"

"We can't just do nothing," he insisted. Her palm hit her face and stung her forehead.

"You are impossible sometimes!"

He stood up from the chair swiftly and faced her. They were nearly nose to nose. Her eyes never faulted from his. She kept a smile from surfacing when she found herself distracted by the fact they were still relatively the same height. It didn't make him very intimidating when he was trying to win an argument – not that he would ever win an argument against her. His temper and sarcasm got him fairly far, but her quick tongue often gave her the leap.

She looked at him confused when a hand suddenly laced with hers. His attention dropped from her face to the hand he held. The flush of anger had left him in all but an instant. Jenny sighed, her own grief subsiding. She watched as he gently slid the glove off her hand and tossed it to her desk. His thumb drew circles across her knuckles, taking care to avoid a scar that ran through the dip between her index and ring finger and over both fingers. It often looked as if it would split at any moment, despite the fact it had been healed for almost a year.

"Stop staring at that stupid thing," she muttered. He rolled his eyes and used his free hand to ensnare her waist and pull her in. She didn't fight him on it. Zap had a slight obsession with affection, but when they were alone, she was willing to indulge his touchy quirks. The hand on her waist rubbed up and down, crinkling her dress. A wave of tingles shot up her spine. He smirked as he leaned in and left a trail of wet kisses up her neck.

"I still feel a little guilty over it," he told her. She shivered as her skin vibrated under his voice.

"I'm not going to say it wasn't your fault, because it totally was, but really, it's been like eight months," she insisted. He chuckled to himself a little, gently playing with the area around the scar.

He corrected her, a rare and frankly rather obnoxious sight, "Eight months, fourteen days."

"Okay…," she punched him in the arm lightly. He wobbled on the spot a little, "I'm not even going to acknowledge how creepy that was."

He kissed her forehead and murmured against her skin, "It was our first date. Well, our first real one."

"Oh so, now you're a romantic," she teased. He left her hand and propped her up in his arms by her thighs. She yelped, immediately grabbing at his shoulders to steady herself in his grip.

"Kind of hard to forget considering I, you know, did that."

He plopped her down on her desk. The pencils he'd been playing with earlier had tipped over and spilled onto the floor. Her first instinct was to push him aside and pick them up, but he kept her pinned. She huffed and leaned back on her hands as he nestled his waist between her legs and kissed her cheek. Her face flushed, and she tried her best to swallow the heat pooling in the back of her throat.

She audibly gasped when he nipped along her jaw, "it wasn't that bad."

"You needed stitches."

"Only two," she replied insistently, "I've hurt myself way worse than that in my own lab."

"I try not to remember that time you got a laser pen stuck in your thigh," he returned to her neck from earlier, taking care to re-touch the hickeys from two nights prior. She smiled and pulled his face from her throat to kiss him hard on the mouth.

"Dex looked like he was about to have an aneurism when I came hobbling in," she mused against him.

He froze and removed himself from her. She couldn't help the whine that left her mouth as he did. She looked up at him, miffed. Her insides were bubbling. Her fingers were tingling. The heat between her legs had peeked and he had left her to cool off. But beyond it all, her eyes caught hold of his frown and her frustration slowly disappeared.

"Dex," he said. Her still churning stomach rose up her throat. She couldn't believe she had completely forgotten. Well, she had wanted a distraction. She should be more careful what she wishes for. She sighed, and reached behind her for her glove, slipping it back over her fingers.

"We really do need to find her today."

"No kidding."

"I'll meet you downstairs," she said, jumping off her desk. She pondered retrieving her pencils from the floor for a moment, but left them be. She could get them later, "I'm going to go find Dex and see if he has a plan."

He nodded, and straightened out his shirt. Her eyes drifted to his groin for a moment; this time the dourness of the situation kept her smile down.

"Zap," she piped up at her doorframe, "I'd take the time to shower if I were you."

His eyes shot to his erect crotch and he groaned, "This is so your fault, you know."

When she didn't answer him, he looked up to find her already gone. He moaned again, kicking at the floor before he left as well. He peered out from her door, making sure the halls were clear. Another run in with Dex, or God forbid Tung, was not what any of them needed right now, especially while he was so _compromised_. But luckily, fate gave him a break, and neither was in sight. He could hear Tung snoring when he tiptoed past his door. Still, he covered his loins for good measure as he trotted speedily to his room.

/

Dex was sitting silently at the kitchen table. Papers covered in illegible scribbles were strewn in front of him. He slowly shuffled them through his fingers, ignoring the fresh cuts across his pads. Jenny stood at the door frame and watched him intently for a moment before entering. He made no motion to acknowledge her.

She strode across the kitchen and sorted through the cabinets for bowls and spoons. Tung always insisted on keeping the cutlery with the dishes – it was quicker. She thought it was a pain. She opened the fridge for milk but was immediately hit with a medley of sour smells and slammed it back shut. Dex had decided to let maggots fester on the bottom shelf again – wonderful… She poured cereal into the bowls, not having the patience to prepare anything heartier, and picked one up in her hands.

She turned to Dex and with her free hand ripped the papers from his grip. He looked up, shocked, and opened his mouth to protest. She rolled her eyes and placed the bowl in front of him, "Eat."

"Oh, thank you Jenny, but I'm not hungry," he insisted as he tried to gather his papers from her. She held her ground.

"Eat."

He sighed and shoved a spoon full of sugary coated grain into his gob, if only to appease her. She took the seat across from him and looked over his work. She winced. Most of it was absolute gibberish and she was quite sure he'd made the many of the words he had used up. It was all very unlike him. When he bothered to make a plan it was meticulous. She glanced up at him over the papers' edge and he finished off his bowl. Her gaze turned back to the papers as she tried to dissect its contents from its confusing shell.

"Morning, dudes," Tung greeted sleepily as he strolled through the kitchen. No one questioned him on his early rising. Everyone was off balance. He immediately veered for the fridge and dug through it. The maggots didn't faze him; in fact Jenny swore he slurped one up when Dex wasn't looking. Her lip curled in disgust for a moment. He pulled the milk from the fridge and took over the bowl of cereal she had left on the counter, "Have you guys seen my toothbrush?"

Dex shook his head and collected his papers back from Jenny. She gave them willingly. She couldn't make heads or tails of his nonsense. It made no sense to continue keeping them from him.

"That's so weird… I can't find it anywhere…"

Jenny spoke up dourly, "Did you check the freezer?"

He snorted, "The freezer? Please Jenny, I would never leave my toothbrush in the – oh look at that."

She smirked as he fished an icy, green toothbrush from the freezer. He shrugged and stuffed it into his back pocket. He scooped up the bowl of cereal and milk and chugged it happily. She gagged, a hand shooting to cover her throat.

Zap walked in moments later. He didn't bother with the fridge or the cupboards. Instead, he sat down at the table with Dex and Jenny and waited. For once, he kept his mouth shut. Jenny inwardly sighed. She couldn't tell if she was thankful that his cynical comments were being kept under wraps or if she wished for them to lighten up the mood. She was really coming to hate how indecisive she'd become because of him.

"Good, we're all here," Dex said; everyone nodded in response, "Today's going to be a long day."

They had all already assumed that. Jenny prodded him gently, "What's the plan exactly?"

"We're going to all split up and search the planet in four quadrants," he pulled a somewhat coherent map from his pile and slammed it into the middle of the table, "I'll go north. Jenny you'll take the east quadrant, Zap, you're west and Tung you're south."

"Is it a good idea to split up like this," Zap piped up with a sneer.

"We'll cover more ground this way," Dex insisted, "If Jane's still out there, she won't have a lot of time left."

"And if those hornets are still out there none of us will have a chance against a swarm alone!"

"Zap, I have no idea what would have possessed Pyro Hornets to react in such a way – but we can only assume they were provoked. It's the only logical answer," he sighed, "I think it's safe as long as we avoid them. If anyone runs into an issue, we all come running, alright?"

Everyone nodded, though Zap was still hesitant. Dex clasped his hands together with a smack and everyone followed him outside obediently. Zap came up beside her as they walked, purposely letting Tung run ahead of him. His shoulder nudged hers and she looked at him. His eyes were focused straight ahead. His hand hit her wrist and slid down to lace their fingers briefly. Dex and Tung were far enough ahead that she didn't need to worry about being caught; although the paranoia was still evident. He looked nervous, or scared. She couldn't pin point which.

She stopped him, double checking to make sure they were safe; Dex and Tung had already left the ship. She turned back to him pushed her mouth onto his dryly. He smiled against her. She pulled back, her cheeks tinged red, and grinned meekly. He let go of her hand and she left the ship. He trailed hotly at her heels.

They joined Dex and Tung at the epicentre of Jane's destroyed campsite. Habi shot out of the ship's door and perched on Jenny's shoulder. She tapped his head affectionately.

"Okay, everyone – lets get going. We'll meet back here at five o'clock tonight. Communicators stay on at all times, no matter what," Dex instructed starkly, "Don't try to handle anything on your own. And if you find Jane, call in immediately."

Without another word, the group split. Dex had shot off into bush like a bullet. Jenny took her time to watch him, his determination, before turning to the east. Habi chirped and nuzzled her ear. She smiled to herself solemnly as she waded into the woods.

/

The woods were as they were the day before – lifeless. The bark under her feet cracked like frail bones as she walked. The naked trees seemed to wilt, leaning on the others to keep from failing.

"Would they make a sound," Jenny muttered to herself, uneasily. Habi buzzed contently from where he lay, sprawled on her shoulder. She bit the side of her tongue as the trees began to fill in the path. She groaned as she struggled through the underbrush. Plants, more dead than alive, were grabbing at her clothes, stalling her. Habi was beginning to fuss, chirping with fright and tugging on her loose hair as they continued through the woods. Jenny tried to shush and calm him, but cussed between breaths as more fallen trees and large thorn plants attacked her ankles and the hem of her dress.

It took no time at all for her to whip her communicator out while she fought her way through the vegetation, "Anybody else having trouble with the plant life around here?"

She realized as she spoke that her call was less for information and more for confirmation that she wasn't alone. Habi had been slightly comforting at the beginning of the day, but her faith in him had steadfast dissipated with the hours. It was now nearly noon, with no sign of Jane or Pyro Hornets, and the odds of her finding either at this point were reaching zero had surfaced. Still, the ominous signs of the forest left her breathing shallow. In laments terms, she was scared and she wasn't too big of a person to admit that (to herself, at least. She wasn't about to let anyone else in on that little tidbit).

"It's like a swamp down here," Tung answered awed, his eyes glinting with wonder behind his goggles. She grinned briefly at the scene on her screen.

Zap's voice rose up above his and his picture replaced Tung's on her communicator, "Do you need any help?"

Jenny suppressed the smile coming to her face, "No, no. I'll be fine. Just a little frazzled."

"Frazzled," he teased. She yelped as she stepped into a thigh-high thorn bush. They pricked her through her tights, "Jenny, you okay?"

"Yes, once again I'm fine," she insisted, "I'm not made of glass you know."

"You're not made of steel either."

Her brows furrowed and she pushed her way past another fallen tree, clambering to climb over it without injuring herself further, "Something on your mind, bug-boy?"

She smirked when she picked up his muted growl over the communicator, "Look. I've got a bad feeling. Just be careful, alright?"

"Of course," she muttered. The information doesn't perk him up; his frown only intensified on her screen. A hard lump developed in her stomach. Something wasn't right, "You still look like something's bothering you."

"I don't like this," he hissed bluntly and for a moment she's afraid he's going to say something he shouldn't. Something quite possibly explicit and to do with their nightly, and more recently, morning escapades – and this was not the best moment to break it to the team that they'd been hiding a relationship for far longer than socially acceptable (if such a thing could even be consider such), "being split up and so far apart. What if something happens?"

"Nothing's going to happen," she told him starkly, to which he just stifled a huff, "Dex, how are things on your end?"

Zap grumbled incoherent curses that her communicator couldn't pick up. His picture left her screen and Dex's appeared. Jenny frowned mutedly. He looked like a wreck. His hair was tousled with thorns and sticks poking out from his scalp. He had blotches of mud splotched across his face as well as what she could only deem as a nasty prick under his left cheek bone that had started to swell.

"Plants getting to you to," she mused, feigning a smile. He snorted lightly, but dourness was obvious behind it.

"A little bit," he murmured, "I haven't seen anything else. Just a lot of fallen trees. It's very strange."

"It's the same everywhere, almost like someone did this."

"C'mon," Zap piped up forcefully over the speaker, "Who would knock down a bunch of trees for kicks?"

"The Timber Tribe again," Dex answered.

"They wouldn't come back to Arilyss. Not after last time," Jenny said starkly, "And even if they did, they would take the trees or at least light everything on fire and they don't

talk hostages-"

"Wait," he interrupted, and everyone fell silent. Jenny nearly lost her footing on another small fallen tree. She gripped a climbing vine to keep from toppling over, "I think I've got something, Streuth!"

"What is it?"

"A nest," he replied, "A hornet nest by the look of it!"

"We're on our way," Zap announced, and Tung and Jenny added in with mutters of agreement.

Her feed cut out and Dex's position flashed on the screen. Jenny turned to bolt back off into the underbrush when her dress snagged on another ragged branch. A surprised cry shot from her mouth as she fell, hitting the uneven ground face first. She groaned frustratingly as she propped herself on her elbows. A large smear of mud was smudged across her torso and hips – her dress now looked more brown than pink. Her lips pursed in annoyance and she sighed, picking a rouge thorn from her hair.

Suddenly, a stick snapped, breaking the dead air around her. She froze, sinking back into the ground as slow as possible. A shadow walked, a mere arms length in front of her, casually. The body was blackened by the sun behind, and they appeared like an ominous silhouette. Her jaw tensed firmly and ached from the pressure; she couldn't talk this way – not a sound. The shadow stopped and turned sharply towards her. Jenny's heart was caught in her throat, pulsating and booming in her ears. She could hear little else above it.

The shadow continued on with a sly shrug. She sighed with relief, her head dropping slightly, but careful not to dip into the dirt. She bit her cheek when another stick snapped, followed by a rusting of dry leaves and mud as it sucked at passing feet. Her tongue was overwhelmed by the salty taste of blood swimming across it; she nearly gagged, but suppressed it painfully. A swarm of silhouetted creatures passed in front of her, stomping in line and howling and snorting uncontrollably. They moved as one like soldiers; a grotesque, blackened shape, with more heads and pointed feet than she could count. She didn't dare try to decipher the random spikes that shot out from the army's body, afraid she'd be counting teeth and talons.

Then, with the force of a bullet, a misshapen head shot out from the group. Its face was sharp, with a large ridge protruding from the end of its snout back into an elongated skull. Its head raised higher, a long neck protruding with odd grace above the others; its jaw craned upwards toward the sun. She gasped and her hands flew to cover her mouth, slathering chalky mud across her face. It snapped towards her at the sound, curiously. Its eyes dimly shone from the distorted mass below it, a cold blue that was oddly reminiscent of a sunny day in winter. A snarl emitted from it, rising up its throat and erupting from its mouth savagely.

The rest of the army joined in like a chorus in twisted harmony. Their heads rose, thrashing through the air. The growling escaladed to screaming. Their feet stomped at the ground, wailing shaking with the ground. Another voice joined in, tormented by bleeding ears and anger.

"Shut up! Shut up!"

He waited, but the beasts continued their frenzy.

"_SHUTTUP_!"

They stopped, almost in a single instant. All but one head lowered back into line. The eyes of the defiant creature still lingered on her. Her chest ripped with pain and she realized she had been holding her breath. Unable to control her, a gasp tore from her. The silhouette turned to her and back to the creatures' head.

He paused for a moment, gently stroking the mass.

"What do you see?"

The creature snorted in return. Jenny's eyes began to blur with tears. From her mouth, a small trail of blood leaked from the corner. The man faced her again, holding himself like a king. The creature leaned in to nuzzle his face lovingly, and he laughed, holding the snout against his cheek.

"Well," he muttered against its nose, but Jenny heard it clearly, "You know what to do."

She held her breath again, shivering in the mud.

"Retrieve _it_!"


End file.
